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Emerald Spire 35.0 - The Garden Bathhouse
Deciding to beat a hasty retreat from the monster in the theater, the group descended the stairs into the overgrown forest. With only the barest remnants of a path left to guide them, Kormon took the lead, guiding them unerringly towards the spire that was barely visible through the trees and other towering plants. Bushwacking through the jungle, they eventually came to a clearing: a small river of sorts fed into a pond surrounding the spire. A fountain had been built around the spire's base and a greenish water flowed out of it. Marin, whose mental and physical fortitude now let him dash over water, crossed the pond to take a closer look. Determining that the fountain's water was somehow infused with magic, they put some into a cooking pot and gave it to Vibol to hold until they could more safely deduce what it did. Nearby, the group could see a closed pavilion. Investigating it carefully from the outside, it seemed to be in slightly better condition than other things on this floor and it possessed an actual lawn: something was keeping the overgrowth away from the building. Of greater concern was the two women's voices that could be heard from inside, chatting amicably. After a debate concerning the relative merits of approaching or ignoring the women, Kormon stepped up to the doors and pushed them in. Inside was a small bathhouse: three fancy hot tubs were set into the floor and several chaises decorated the marble room. There were indeed two women lounging inside: both were pale-skinned and beautiful, one with flowing black hair wearing a low-cut red dress, the other with red hair and a flowing black dress. Necklaces of thick, green crystal hung about their necks: perhaps fancier versions of the collar they had seen on the imp in the theater. They both turned to their visitors and smiled, greeting them and telling them to come in. No one was quick to trust the women, who were very forthcoming in explaining themselves to be trapped extraplanars that originally hailed from Hell. The red-haired one, Katalia, gushed over Vibol's adorableness, while the raven-haired one, Nithria, cozied up to Marin and Kormon. The pair were conversational and more than willing to entertain their guests with their knowledge. According to them, they had been summoned thousands of years ago by the wizards in this castle and bound to be servants for the purposes of 'entertaining' guests. The necklaces forced them into unending, unpaid servitude that they could not escape, much like the numerous other slaves that had been used for entertainment or maintenance tasks. Mercifully however, since their particular job required that they have a little more freedom of movement, they could escape the gardens for short periods to visit nearby towns to interact with people. The other slaves were not so lucky: when the wizards abandoned the place eons ago, they had left the slaves to rot and they had all inevitably been driven to insanity and despair from isolation and starvation. When asked where the rest of the servants were, since it seemed that the place had long ago stopped receiving maintenance, the women laughed. There was a curious sort of zoo in a corner of the garden that the group had conveniently missed which summoned in random creatures from the other planes and kept them contained for the amusement of visitors; when a fiendish basilisk appeared one day, the staff gleefully took petrification as an escape from their unending torment, leaving only the two of them and the imp, who was bound to the theater room. When asked why the place was abandoned, Katalia and Nithria explained that this tower had been built by the Magelord of Conjuration, Sasien Tol L'ren, and had been the seat of their power in this country. Of course, the Valparisans weren't natives; they were conquerors who had dramatically upset the way of life here, not to the best pleasure of the original inhabitants. When the great wars between Magelords began, Sasien had sent much of their war-time might in aid of the other lords, leaving their own holdings less than well-defended. The populace rose up against the Valparisans and drove them from the country and when the insurgents reached the tower and city surrounding it, the Valparisan wizards here fled for their lives, stealing what they could and ostensibly returning to their homeland. The city was razed and the tower destroyed. However, they both believed that the Magelord must still persist somewhere, perhaps even still in the further basements of this tower, because otherwise their collars would have ceased to function. They seemed both concerned and dismissive of the lord, alternating between warning of their power and waving them off for their apathy, and were just as undecided of their gender, with Katalia referring to Sasien as 'her' and Nithria as 'him'. The conversation eventually came around to the spire itself: Marin wanted information and the devils were willing to oblige. From what they knew, there were only a few more floors beneath them: a laboratory where wizards conducted high-level experiments, the Magelord's private chambers, and ostensibly, the base of the spire itself. They knew of the lab and refused to go there: the whole place had been warded against extraplanars and had a sickening effect on them; the other two places they'd never seen, only heard of. Marin brought up the topic that had been tossed about in private many a time: how to destroy the spire. They snickered but explained that, if there was any hope of destroying it, it would be by breaking it at the root. However, none of them had god-touched power and without it, they had no hope of scratching the crystal. As they wrapped up their conversation, Marin declared that he had a way to break the bonds that trapped the two women, if they were willing to help them get to the crystal root. The two became rather serious but eventually dismissed him: they had no way of knowing that what he said was true, even less assurance that he would indeed free them after they risked and likely injured themselves on his account, and frankly they had absolutely no desire to go to the lab beneath them, where they knew they would suffer from the enchantments there. He shrugged and took his leave with the others following after; Kormon lingered slightly longer, asking a few questions to gauge the women's intents should they be freed. They seemed mischievous, to be certain, but they seemed to have no desire to begin a campaign of terror. Kormon politely excused himself as well and the two women fell to serious conversation among themselves. Once outside, Amara demanded explanation. She had been under the impression that they were exploring to secure the spire and its resources for the Quicksilver Conclave, to reclaim some of the lost technology of the Valparisans which could benefit the whole country. Marin and Kormon were honest about their intentions: if there was no way to disrupt the spire that they could find by the time they reached the bottom, they would destroy it to ensure that the Adamantine Order, and the Conclave at that, could not claim its power. Amara was understandably upset and when she couldn't convince them to change their minds, she stomped off towards the fountain. When she left, Jaquarl piped up: the devils' mention of god-touched power had given him an idea and he thought he knew a way to destroy the spire. However, it would require some assistance and preparation to see if it even had the possibility of working; he and Vibol would have to leave and find Dayana, hopefully avoiding the commander Teuthida. With a nod of approval from Marin and Kormon, the two aquatic angels went to the pond and hopped in. With some sort of quick spell, the two dove under and disappeared. Marin, Kormon and Ismail looked to each other and nodded: their adventure was reaching its climax. Category:Emerald Spire